By Dr. Mushtaq Rather
Raising a child in the current circumstances is both an experience to cherish and at the same time quite demanding as well. Parents have to invest both time and finances to let their child realise their actualized potential . To hone the skills of their children as per demand and requirement, the first priority for a parent is to offer quality education.
Parents are ready to sacrifice everything to safeguard the education of their children. So, the first priority for a modern parent is to choose the right kind of school for their child which can cater to a diverse set of learning needs. To access quality driven educational institutions, a parent has to move from pillar to post to explore available options.
The author, like any other parent, was excited and at the same anxious to look for the best possible schooling options to get my child enrolled in kindergarten. I explored ample options in South Kashmir and finally zeroed in on certain viable options for which I had received positive feedback. Therefore, I made up my mind to get my ward admitted into one of these so-called innovation and futuristic driven schools. With excitement, I went along with my child for an “assessment” where they would deduce whether the child fits in their self created criteria of learning environment. In the school premises, I was given a time slot for the said assessment, an assessment which is otherwise strongly discouraged by the renowned educationists all over the world. Infact, the Honorable Supreme Court had passed clear directions and had abstained school authorities from putting children to any psychological discomfort in the name of assessments. Even the Ministry of Education and Literacy came up with detailed guidelines and issued instructions in this regard to do away with any kind of assessment in determining the admission especially at the pre-primary level.
At first, I thought the school authorities would hold a sort of informal interaction with parents to discuss the attainment of age –appropriate developmental milestones. But to my utter shock and disbelief, we were asked to hand over the child to the assessment team and the child was taken to solitary confinement in a locked room and we were not allowed to accompany the child and were left guessing outside the room.
Imagine the psychological discomfort a child had had to go through on being subjected to this torturous assessment by faces unfamiliar to him. When the child came out of the room, the author went to school authorities to discuss certain reservations he had in his mind. Why was there a need to assess the child even for admission to a pre-primary class? The authorities in a confident tone replied that it is integral to assess the child to gauge the level of attainment of developmental milestones and to check whether the child is suffering from any kind of disability.
With eyes wide open, I asked if children with special needs would be accommodated in the school. Their response was literally a bolt from blue. The protested as to how they could enroll such children in an “elite” institution and such children are to be admitted in special schools. T
The landmark legislation enacted in 2016 titled Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act 2016 vociferously advocates enrolling children with special needs in mainstream education systems instead of establishing special schools. The act even makes it clear that if any school deprives any specially-abled child from his legitimate right to access quality education, the school can face de-recognition and hefty fine if found violating the provisions of the Act. However, the elitist private schools in our part of the world have taken these legislations and circulars for a toss. The modus operandi of these institutions is to access a desired lot of students through the assessment and they do not stop here: then they demand hefty amounts in the name of annual fee, franchise fee, school development fee, capitation fee besides the normalized tuition fee and transportation fee.
The elitist school, author is talking about is receiving a capitation fee to the tune of Rupees 80,000. They are selling education rather than rendering it accessible to all. The circulars and orders from the school education department categorically ask to do away with any assessment at the time of admission and charging capitation fee of any kind but these instructions are hardly seen implemented by these elitist vendors of education.
NEP 2020 and ECCE:
The essence of NEP 2020 lies in shifting the paradigm of education from content memorization to attainment of competencies. The skill of hard memorization is now considered as a redundant and obsolete skill, as this skill is not sufficient enough to mitigate the challenges of the 21st century. The challenges posed by the 21st century are quite varied and complex as compared to the challenges encountered in previous centuries. The educational institutions therefore have to strive towards creating congenial learning atmosphere which in the longer run fosters lifelong learning in modern day learners, who can in turn meaningfully contribute to society. Are our schools ready to embrace the provisions of NEP 2020? Or will our schools still stick to the traditional way of schooling? In that case, what will be the fate of such a meticulously crafted policy. The effective implementation of any ground breaking intervention is determined by the sincere will and commitment of all the relevant stakeholders. One of the standout recommendations of NEP 2020 is the conceptualization of Early Childhood care and education (ECCE) which was previously unheard of in earlier policies. ECCE is crucial to the overall development of children, with impacts on their learning. Evidence on Early childhood education suggests that children who engage in early and play based learning activities have better developmental outcomes than those who don’t. According to National curriculum Framework (2022) for foundational stage education of children in the three to eight years, research from across the world on education, neurosciences and economics demonstrates clearly that ensuring free, accessible , high quality early childhood care education is perhaps the very best investment that any country can make for its future. It further elaborated that brain development is most rapid in the first eight years of a child’s life, indicating the critical importance of cognitive and socio-emotional simulation in early years. The National Curriculum Framework for Foundational stage (2022) has listed the ‘panchakosha’ concept for education of children and its five integral domains are physical development, development of life energy, emotional and mental development , intellectual development and spiritual development. The ECCE model relies on play based, inquiry based learning with focus on cognitive, affective, psychomotor abilities and early literacy and numeracy. The design of teaching –learning instructional pedagogy therefore is to hone physical and motor development, cognitive development , socio-emotional ethical development , cultural /artistic development and at the same time acquisition of effective communication, language , early literacy and numeracy at the preparatory stage The ultimate aim of ECCE is to attain optimal outcomes in different domains. Somehow early childhood education has remained both under invested and under explored over decades. The argument for increased investment in early childhood care and education is a basic one – human resources are the bedrock of a nation, and early childhood is the bedrock of a human being.
Views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial stance of Kashmir Observer
- The author is an educator
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